by Pastor Douglas Brauner
Hope in Limited Time
You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.
“He made the moon to mark the seasons; the sun knows its time for setting.”
Psalm 104:19 English Standard Version
There is one thing I still miss about my home state of Oregon more than anything else, the ocean, especially the sunsets over the Pacific.
On a recent family gathering at Seaside, Oregon, on the first night, I sat on a piece of driftwood and watched the sun sizzle into the ocean. It was one of those rare evenings when no clouds blanketed the horizon allowing me to watch the sun completely disappear beneath the waves.
My footprints are heading toward my sunset.
I recently had a bicycle accident and ended up in the emergency room just to make sure that I hadn’t broken any bones. I received a pile of when they released me. The medical community now considers me to be at an elevated risk of falling.
Wait! How can that be! I’m not that old yet! Then I realize that I move a bit slower than I used to, turn more carefully, and concentrate on lifting my feet when I walk. I feel like I’m becoming my grandparents.
As people will tell you, with aging comes both hope and despair. It is a time of reflection and with that reflection comes a sense of regret both from things done and things undone. For those of us who know the beauty of God’s mercy in Christ, there is also hope, the hope that even now we can laugh, sing, and rejoice, that our life has meaning. And there is the hope of being in the presence of the Lamb who was slain for us when our sun does disappear.
Yes, my footsteps are leading toward my sunset, I know this, yet they also lead me to Christ and a life without end.
“From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the Lord is to be praised!”
Psalm 113:3 ESV
Copyright Family of Christ Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado
Yup, all of that aging stuff. Along with a sharp sense that each breath, let alone each day, is a gift.
Hey, Jay, so good to hear from you! I hope you are doing well. I often think about the impact that people like you had on me when I was a youth at Grace and making the trip to St. Johns. God bless you!!!
Well, I always say that Isaiah 41:31 is a promise for our next life. My race placard would have read Isaiah 41:8. More honest and looks better when one is limping across the finish line.